APACHE STRONGHOLD -  PRESS RELEASES, MEDIA ADVISORIES & STATEMENTS

1852 Treaty between the U.S. and the Apache Nation of Indians (sometimes referenced as the “Treaty of Santa Fe”)
Transcribed copy of the 1852 Treaty is available online at https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/apa1852.asp 

Apache Stronghold v. United States
 Becket Law | Case Detail | Case Media | Legal Documents | Media Contact: Ryan Colby, 202-349-7219, media@becketlaw.org
|
United States Courts For the Ninth Circuit Court | Cases of Interest: Apache Stronghold v. USA
APACHE STRONGHOLD PRESS RELEASES
Information for the Press (Apache Stronghold Press Release Photos, Use & Terms)
April 17, 2025, For Immediate Release, BREAKING: Feds charge ahead with plan to destroy Oak Flat Supreme Court poised to consider Apache Stronghold’s appeal
Media Contact: Ryan Colby |media@becketfund.org | 202-349-7219
|
January 27, 2025, Supreme Court Update 
|
December 16, 2024 - Supreme Court Update
|
December 13, 2024 - Supreme Court Update
|
December 9, 2024 - Supreme Court Update
|
December 6, 2024 - Supreme Court Update - Thank you to all of our supporters who are continuing to pray about our Supreme Court petition to protect Oak Flat. Our case was not mentioned in today’s Supreme Court orders list. However, we may get a decision by the Court to take our case by Monday 7:30 a.m. Central time. We will update you again on Monday morning. We take this as an encouraging sign that the Court is devoting extra time to our case and giving it careful examination. We ask all of our supporters to continue praying that the Justices will agree to hear our case and protect Oak Flat—just as the sacred places of other faiths have long been protected throughout the country. Thank you again for your support.
|
November 22, 2024 - Supreme Court Update
|
November 14, 2024 - Watch Notre Dame halftime commercial “Fighting for Religious Liberty” during the Virginia Cavaliers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish game that will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, November 16, from Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. The Virginia vs. Notre Dame game will air exclusively on NBC and stream simultaneously on Peacock on November 16 on NBC. READ MORE HERE
|
For Immediate Release:  November 7, 2024 | Becket Media Contact, Ryan Colby, E-mail: media@becketlaw.org, Phone: 202-349-7219
Apache Stronghold urges Supreme Court to protect Oak Flat
Federal government, international mining giant claim authority to destroy Native American sacred site
|
Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. will be traveling to Washington D.C. for the filing on November 6th. Apache Stronghold will be in prayer during this time. Wendsler will be praying from Sunrise to Sunset in Washington D.C. He is calling on all people to join him in prayer. For more information, those wanting to join with him, please contact Apache Stronghold.
|
For Immediate Release:  October 16, 2024 | Becket Media Contact:  Ryan Colby 202-349-7219 media@becketlaw.org
|
For Immediate Release:  September 10, 2024 | Contact: apache.stronghold@gmail.com
|
The Apache Stronghold has arrived in Washington, DC after two months following in the footsteps of the Spirit from the West on this Journey of Prayer to deliver their appeal to the Supreme Court to protect their religion, their sacred land, but also to protect all of humanity’s spirituality and the earth that is Mother to us all whether we recognize it or not.
|
The Apache Stronghold made a stop on their Journey of Prayer to the Supreme Court in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement and home of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first served as a full-time pastor. This church and Dr. King played a central role in uniting the local community in the struggle against what King called the evils of materialism, militarism, and racism.
|
August 30, 2024, Prayer Journey to Supreme Court, Apache Stronghold Day of Prayer
This is an invitation to participate in the Apache Stronghold’s Day of Prayer on September 11, 2024, at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
|
For Immediate Release:  August 20, 2024, Contact: apache.stronghold@gmail.com
Apache Stronghold Heads to the East  |  Media Ready Photos
|
|
|
|
For Immediate Release:  May 14, 2024, Becket Media Contact: Ryan Colby 202-349-7219 media@becketlaw.org
|
This morning we received the response from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Our request to be heard by the full 29-judge panel was denied, none of the judges requesting a vote for rehearing. The Court amended its decision to discuss a previous Supreme Court decision that hadn’t been considered, and the 9th Circuit’s decision on the case remained closely divided, 6 to 5, with five dissenting judges and over 240 pages of opinions. We have now completed the 9th Circuit appeal, and the next step is petitioning to be heard by the Supreme Court. I want to thank everyone for your endless support and prayers. I know capitalism had began as far back as when trade began. For over 500 hundred years, we indigenous people of America, have suffered equally to the rest of the world. What had started in the beginning between good and evil will again face each other. One, to protect the greatest gift god gave the world or the other.,to destroy every human life and the spirit that Mother Earth gives birth to. The question is, where will you stand in this moment?  We will all be judged. Blessings to all.
|
For Immediate Release, April 15, 2024:  Becket Media Contact: Ryan Colby 202-349-7219 media@becketlaw.org
|
03/19/2024, Urgent, please read!
The time is here to join the Apache stronghold in protecting all holy and sacred places. The words you share in your Amicus briefs will be read by US Supreme Court justices. Take action to have your voice heard by joining existing briefs or creating new ones. Please call today for more information. Apache Stronghold/Save Oak Flat.
 SEE:  AMICUS BRIEF INFORMATION
SUPPORTING APACHE STRONGHOLD AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
Apache Stronghold is grateful for the outpouring of support for our efforts to protect Oak Flat. As our case heads to the Supreme Court, one way to support Apache Stronghold is for interested organizations to file an amicus brief (also called a friend-of-the-court brief) at the Supreme Court. Although the timeline is subject to change, those briefs are currently due by July 1, 2024. (This is 30 days after Apache Stronghold files its cert petition asking the Supreme Court to hear its case, which is currently due on May 30, 2024.)
|
If your organization is interested in participating in an amicus brief in support of Apache Stronghold, please email Leigh Brown, lbrown@becketlaw.org, and provide her with your name, contact information, and the name of your organization. Someone at Becket will respond with further details. | Legal Doc: Ninth Circuit En Banc Per Curiam Opinion in Apache Stronghold v. United States (PDF)
For Immediate Release, October 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
April 21, 2023  Apache activist Wendsler Nosie seeks Rochester allies in fight against mining on sacred land | WXXI News, April 21, 2023
Wendsler Nosie, an environmental activist and former tribal chairman for the San Carlos Apache Tribe, is in Rochester this week to discuss the fight to prevent the federal government from selling a chunk of sacred land to copper mining company Resolution Copper. Nosie is scheduled to give a talk at Ganondagan State Historic Site at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, presented by RIT’s Native American Future Stewards program. He's also slated to visit SUNY Geneseo on Wednesday, April 26, to deliver the keynote address for Geneseo’s annual Great Day event, and he’s scheduled to speak at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church on Thursday, April 27, for an Earth Day event organized by the Gandhi Institute. His talk, titled “The Rumbling of Sacred Spaces: An Earth Day Message,” will touch on the fight for Oak Flat, and is part of a national tour of speaking engagements to raise awareness on the issue.
|
Media Contact: Ryan Colby | media@becketlaw.org | 202-349-7219 | Becket Press Release @
|
April 10, 2023  NGO Letter to President Biden  RE:  Please protect sacred Oak Flat and Native Copper American culture from Resolution 
Center for Biological Diversity • Earthjustice • League of Conservation Voters • Natural Resources Defense Council • The Wilderness Society • Patagonia • A Community Voice • Access Fund • American University Washington College of Law's Environmental Law Society • American University Washington College of Law Native American Law Students Association • Archaeology Southwest • Arizona Faith Network • Arizona List • Arizona Sustainability Alliance • Arizona Working Families Party • Black Hills Clean Water Alliance • Brophy Native American Club • Chispa Arizona • Clean Water Alliance • Dos Aguas of the Southwest • Friends of Buckingham • Great Old Broads of Wilderness • High Country Conservation Advocates • Indigenou tagonia • A Community Voice • Access Fund • American University Washington College of Law's Environmental Law Society • American Un s Environmental Network • Living United for Change in Arizona • Malach Consulting • Mennonite Central Committee U.S. • Micah Six Eight Mission • Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment • Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness • Okanogan Highlands Alliance • Rock Creek Alliance • Rosewood Strong Community • Save the Scenic Santa Ritas • Spaces of Opportunity • The Clinch Coalition • Uranium Watch • Wateća Challenge • West Street Recovery Northeast Action Collective • Western Mining Action Network- Indigenous Caucus • Xplore Outside
|
|
|
WASHINGTON – A group of Western Apaches, tribal leaders, faith leaders, National Congress of American Indians, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and grassroots organizations are headed back to federal court to protect their most sacred site  from complete destruction by a foreign-owned mining company. On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit will hear arguments again in Apache Stronghold v. United States  after the court decided last fall to hear the case “en banc” — meaning in front of a full panel of eleven judges. Becket, along with attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson, are defending the Apaches’ right to continue their longstanding religious practices at Oak Flat.
|
For Immediate Release:  March 11, 2023
 APACHE STRONGHOLD vs. UNITED STATES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION EN BANC HEARING MARCH 21, 2023 AT 10 A.M. 
 Apache Stronghold will travel to the Hearing on a Spiritual Convoy, traveling to Pasadena, California beginning Sunday March 12th. The convoy, in prayer, will visit supporting  Tribes, Churches and organizations leading to the 9th circuit Appeal court en banc hearing to protect a Sacred and Holy land, Oak Flat. We invite all to join us in the journey to Pasadena to be present for our Appeal Hearing. The schedule for the convoy is attached.  
|
For Immediate Release:  January 10, 2023
 Diverse coalition urges federal appeals court to protect Oak Flat Legal experts, native tribes, and religious groups seek protection of historic Native American sacred site in Arizona   | Contact: Ryan Colby |  media@becketlaw.org | 202-349-7219  |  Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. | apaches4ss@yahoo.com | 928-812-4821
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, November 17, 2022
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, October 10, 2022
|
|
|
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 24, 2022, Divided Ninth Circuit Appeals Court leads Apache Stronghold to Supreme Court - San Carlos, AZ – Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision ruled that the request for a preliminary injunction to halt the land exchange of Oak Flat be denied. Apache Stronghold—a coalition of Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies, which is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty—has vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court immediately. For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7219. Interviews can be arranged in English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
|
For Immediate Release:  October 22, 2021
San Francisco, CA, October 22, 2021, Native Religious Sacred Sites on federal land have no Protections from the U.S. Government
|
Media Advisory, For Immediate Release, October 22, 2021  Becket Law, Today: Apaches in court to save their sacred land  Ninth Circuit to hear Apache Stronghold’s plea to save Oak Flat from destruction |  Friday, October 22 at proximately 11: 20 a.m. PST |  Oral argument will be held virtually at this link: Live Video Streaming of Oral Arguments and Events Courtroom #3. Weblink will not be made available until the morning of the oral argument on Fri. Oct. 22.
|
Media Advisory, For Immediate Release, October 18, 2021  Becket Law, Apaches in court to save their sacred land Ninth Circuit to hear Apache Stronghold’s plea to save Oak Flat from destruction | PDF | Word Document | Oral argument will be held virtually at this link: Live Video Streaming of Oral Arguments and Events | Friday, October 22 at approximately 9:30 am. PST (time may change), Courtroom #3. Weblink will not be made available until the morning of the oral argument on Fri. Oct. 22.

Statement, October 11, 2021
 Apache Stronghold Statement, Columbus Day, October 11, 2021 |

Statement, October 8, 2021
 Apache Stronghold Spiritual Convoy to 9th Circuit Court  |  See Events for schedule updates.
|
|
|
 
 
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 13, 2021
MEDIA ADVISORY: Press Conference Apache Stronghold to Host Virtual Press Conference 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 12, 2021
 APACHE SUE TO PROTECT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, SAVE OAK FLAT SACRED AREA FROM DESTRUCTION BY FOREIGN MINING COMPANY